Robots Take Over the Burger-Flipping Job

Robots seem to have started taking over the jobs of humans. First on the list — burger flipping.

Flippy, the first-ever burger-flipping machine in California has started its first shift in a Pasadena burger joint called, Caliburger. Created by Miso Robotics, Flippy’s aim is not to replace human workers but to serve as a helping hand when it comes to preparation of burgers. The robot’s sole job is to flip burger patties, cook them well, and notify its human co-workers when the patties are ready for their dressings and buns.

Flippy is equipped with a spatula arm and a grill scraper for frying patties. It’s also built with image recognition and a thermal-sensing technology that allows it to detect whether the burger is cooked raw or well. Flippy is a cloud-based artificial intelligence (AI) that can monitor the patties real-time with a screen readout that notifies its human co-workers when the patties are ready for assembling. Although, Flippy has limited abilities, it can handle 12 patties all at the same, and cook each one perfectly.

According to Miso Robotics, burger-flipping machines like Flippy will be installed in more than 50 Caliburger branches around the globe by 2019. Cooking burgers and flipping patties can be a monotonous job for humans. It’s a job that is done in a hot, greasy and dirty environment. So, it’s no surprise why many people who apply for the job typically last only for a short time; only a few weeks, in fact. Autonomous machines like Flippy can help business owners save money and time by avoiding hiring the wrong people for the job. Training, hiring, and monitoring people can cause great expense. Therefore, assigning robots to repetitive tasks could be a smart move for business owners. However, absorbing robots to any business is a critical investment on the business owner’s side that involves costs that could sum up to thousands of dollars. Each burger-flipping robot is priced at $60,000 with further costs that could reach about $12,000 a year.

For now, there are still more developments yet to be done with Flippy. The robot still makes mistakes, no human can make. According to the developers, the technology would still evolve and become better in the future. Nevertheless, it’s fun to watch a robot make your burger. Therefore, the burger joint invites everyone to see Flippy in action.

Some people may find it daunting seeing machines take over the jobs that humans have. However, tech experts believe that in the near future, the jobs assigned to machines will be replaced by new jobs that will be offered to humans.

Check out this video of the robot doing its thing!

Robots Take Over the Burger-Flipping Job was last modified: May 7th, 2018 by Feras Antoon